15th May 2006 1:43 AM
Been a while in Tokyo, time to do a sober update.
Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.
The place is both amazingly cool and exciting
and mind nummingly drab and boring at the same time.
Hadnt quite sorted out accomadation when i arrived at the airport (they had SF2 on the plane!!) about 10 pm so called one the places
i had mapped out and knew how to get there. turned out it was closed for rennovation, so a quick look
throuhg my guide foubd another place, a little old Japanese guest house called Ryoken, beds on floor,
sliding doors, no shoes etc. oh and my mobile stopped working which i was mnost annoyed about.
place was nice and comfy enough, but had a 1 am curfew which wouldnt do at all.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1117.jpg
spent next day looking for a new place, and generally checking out city. found a nice hotel and was sorted for
rest of stay.
A contrasting city by all accounts, theres nothing and loads to do. started making our way round the dozens of interesting
districts. which is basically what i have been doing since i have been here, walking around, looking around.
most fo the city looks incredibly dull, hoards of about 40 year old grey and brown buildings. due to most of original city
being burnt down by americans. still a few old gems left.
coolest night out spot is Shinjuku, hundreds of people head here everynight, hwver my first few nights out
were foiled by the fact that apparently 90%f the poplation is in bed with cocoa by 10:30. so all the places i had marked
to try out were either dead or gigs were long over. although did find a shop (mostly cause it had an alien in the 3rd floor window) whihc sold loads and loads of
metal and other shit dvd videos of bands, nearly everybiody i could thnk of were there. and loads of photos of the
bands which had visited, kinda cool.
went round the fancy places of Ginza and Omote Sendo but left fairly quick as was mostly horribly expensive
and crowded, not too much too see either )well a few cool places in the alleyways around omote sendo).
Tokyo is a place you can spend a fortune doing and acheiving nothing, and spend nothing and do loads.
have managed to blow a whole world of cash out here, which is bad, and the places you can take card are immensely finiky.
Tokyo is cool because here a geek can truly feel at home, there are whole districts dedicated to various geek shit
like Akahabar (electric town), hoards of figures from trains to anime to guns. I swear if the Yen ever collapsed the guys could use Gundam
minatures as new currency and wouldnt lose a step.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1118.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1119.jpg
A quite disturbing amount of hentai (cartoon porn for those less debauched) very much on display, with some very disturbing
stuff, loads of gay hentai too. went into a big manga store called mandrake and at least 40% of the shop was dedicated
to gay hentai, with just loads of young girls looking thourgh it.
Food here has been tricky, most of it is either likely to kill you or looks like it just washed up on a beach.
had a tradional dish earlier, looked like a nice brooth with vegetables, like fondue. but then a raw egg is put in front of you
and this is what you dip the food in, so everything tastes of sugar and raw egg......
had a few good nights out, nice live house called anti-knock had good Hardcore shows on saturday and sunday, saw about 8 bands there
saturday was quite, but sunday was absolutely packed and the bands were insane. a pit comprising of japenses people
is an interesting one indeed, also i couldnt crowd surf as no one was able to lift me up.....damn those small guys.
apprently one of the bands "Gauze" was the biggest hardcore band in japan. some crazy guys there, hunbg out with
one of the random bassists for a bit, not much english spoken in general except he knew how to say
"my cock is long, lets go to the bathroom" in perfect english.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1121.jpg
found a nice enough club called club wire on firday nbut was pretty desserted. tried to go in on staurday after gig but was "lesbian night" according to the bouncer. so not allowed and on sunday they closed
at 11...grrrr.
found anice little bar instead call Godz, had a top floor of dungeon feel to it, wihtout poool table, met some col guys there (group of metal karoke fans).
they had loads and loads of metal CDs, you just requested stuff and if they had it on DVD they put the video on. its great sight
watching salary men take there ties off and start air guitaring at 3 in the morining, had to stay here till about 5 due to last train back
being at 12:45, also had loads of band signatures that had visited. lead a bunch of locals in a chorus of BYOB
and even got round of applause.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1125.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1123.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1124.jpg
You do a few touts in popular night areas, nigerian guys target westerners to get them to come to sex bars,
althought i did learn that the proper brothels are Gaijin (foreigner) free and pay the touts to send the westerners somewhere else.
Paul went dwon to Roppongi, the Tokyo ex-pat area, place i wnted to avoid. was informed it was terribel, loads of
touts and fat scots being annoying.
Was a ver long weekend, slept most of monday. then DISATSTER found out my camera lens was damaged in the gig, all photos are now well
out of focus!!! ARRRGHHHHHH!!!! may need to buy a new camera. that thing has survived loads of pits, guess it just had enough.
Went down to Harajuku and checked out the Coz-players, load of girls dressed in all manner of get up posing for photos
and generally hanging out, got a pic with the most gothic looking.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1131.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/NinjaLaw/Travel/Tokyo/mini-tokyo1129.jpg
Tongiht tried out Kareoke (you haev too in Japan), found a cool metal karaoke bar. had few (well i say few) drinks and headed in,
was only one of those individual booths so just me and paul signing to random stuff for an hour. was quite a laugh,
will have to see if i can do it with more people (i recommend "Aces High" for a track to sign).
A few more places to visit, picked up some nice evangelion junk, might see what else i can find in electric town, maybe
even get some Engrish t-shirts.
Wednesday its off to Bangkok and Pattaya.
Gimnme some love peeps!
Law
and also done a big photo update!
